| mprovement projects increase the value of your | | | | things. A brief internet search on 'types of garages' will |
| home, while building skills and giving you a hobby to | | | | give you an overwhelming number of answers about |
| relax with, making something worthwhile with your | | | | this type of construction. While we mentioned choosing |
| hands. One of the simpler home improvement projects | | | | space requirements early on, look for garages that |
| to tackle this coming summer is building a new garage. | | | | have some expansion ability. In particular, several |
| Before building, you need to figure out how big you | | | | vendors make garages that are modular components, |
| need the garage to be. Think about not just putting | | | | allowing you to customize the covered area to suit |
| your car in the garage, but what other commonly | | | | your needs directly and even add on to them later. If |
| stored items will be placed there. Checking out floor | | | | you're building a timber garage, always go for pressure |
| plans will give you a good estimate to work from. | | | | treated lumber. This is lumber that has had a good |
| Once you've determined the size of the garage, it's | | | | coating of protective agents applied by high pressure |
| time to determine what materials you want to use to | | | | jets of steam, making it resistant to rot, water, mildew |
| build it, whether it's pre-treated or pressure treated | | | | and insects. Even better, it doesn't need an annual |
| wood or a metal frame and siding arrangement. Both | | | | coating of preservative treatment every spring, doing |
| metal and timber garages come in pre-fab | | | | so roughly every three years is good enough. For a |
| construction kits, making the selection one that's driven | | | | more form follows function construction method, |
| by your needs. If you're in a colder climate, the timber | | | | nothing quite beats the benefit of pre-fab metal |
| garages will generally have better insulation than the | | | | buildings. They're often enamel coated and built from |
| metal ones. If you're in a climate with a lot of sunlight, | | | | high grade steel and aluminum and will last for years |
| the metal garages will hold up better to the extremes | | | | with no real effort needed to maintain them. Further, |
| in temperatures. The first step in construction is getting | | | | unlike a lot of wooden buildings, they usually have cable |
| a concrete slab laid down. This will be the anchor point | | | | mounting brackets allowing you to run wiring for power |
| that your garage is built on. Do yourself a favor and | | | | tools or a small office into them and can be insulated in |
| hire a good contractor for this - pouring cement is | | | | their void space with spray-in insulation. While this is a |
| harder than it looks and it's very easy to ruin your | | | | bit more involved than throwing up a garage, it can |
| garage with a badly poured slab and the consequent | | | | have its merits as well - as families or home-based |
| poor drainage that results. Assembling your garage | | | | businesses grow, you'll eventually need either an office |
| from a kit is mostly a matter of following the | | | | or storage space for your records and backups. |
| instructions. With some help from your friends, it's not | | | | Finally, for appearance, look at how the garage will |
| unreasonable to put up a pre-fab garage or other | | | | situate in your yard - will it provide shade, a convenient |
| building inside of a weekend. It'll take some quality time | | | | place to hang a basketball hoop? Do your intended |
| with hammers and a nailgun, but the end result will raise | | | | color schemes match your house or complement |
| the value of your property and give you grist for | | | | them? Does your local homeowners association have |
| stories along the lines of 'Yeah, remember when we | | | | regulations and guidelines for this sort of building? |
| put up Bill's garage?'... Kinds of Garages While we | | | | Always look, when working on improving your |
| mentioned that there are pre-fabricated kits for building | | | | property, for the things that will add the most value for |
| your garage, it was understating the extend of these | | | | the least amount of effort and investment. |